Hello! Today we will talk about how the well-known
shellfish, squid, is obtained in the ocean. Squid meat is considered not only a delicacy
product, but also a low-calorie product in the presence of a mass of useful elements.
This explains its great popularity among consumers. In addition, it belongs to inexpensive seafood,
and cooking from it does not require complex manipulations and time-consuming.
Russia ranks seventh in the world in terms of squid catch. This is no more than 80 thousand
tons per year. The main catch is made in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean (from
50 to 68 thousand tons per year), in the west of the Bering Sea, in the Kuril region, in
the Sea of Japan. In total, from 1.3 to 1.5 million tons of
wild squid are caught in the world. Moreover, for commercial purposes, about six of its
varieties are used. The life cycle of many species is, in most cases, very short, no
more than two years, so the harvest takes place in an intensive manner without harming
the number of the main livestock. The commercial squid is small in size. Most
often, the length of the body from the tentacle does not exceed a meter, but in the ocean
waters there are species that can reach 15-18 meters.
Squid lives in any seas and oceans, regardless of climatic zones. Each of the varieties has
perfectly adapted to living in its own zone. All species are carnivores. The capture of
prey occurs with tentacles, with which it not only holds and strangles the victim, but
also feeds it to the mouth opening. The tentacles also help to defend when needed.
Squids living in the northern seas are small compared to their southern relatives in size
and mostly do not have a bright color. The commercial catch of squid is carried out
on special vessels equipped with jiggers or tackle in the form of a vertical pelagic line,
or bottom trawls, or purse seines. In the first two cases, lighting equipment is required.
Moreover, such methods are most often used due to the greater efficiency of production.
On an industrial scale, squid is caught almost only at night, at light, using vertical longlines
and automatic longline selection machines. An apparatus with an electric motor, two eccentric
drums and two rollers extended on brackets overboard is installed on board the vessel.
A tier is wound on any drum - a single-strand synthetic line with countless from 30 to 40
brightly colored, most often red, green and white, from time to time luminescent, plastic
jiggers. They are designed to mimic the main squid prey in the region. Each of them at
the lower end carries two rings of sharpest beardless hooks from 0.8 to 1.4 mm long, depending
on the size of the squid caught. The distance between the spoons is about half a meter.
The longline ends with a sinker. Spoons do not make money.
The tiers are thrown out by a special machine that produces this action as evenly as possible.
The lifting and collection of them is also automated.
These machines are installed on both sides of the vessel along the entire length from
bow to stern, in an amount of six to 40 pieces or more. In the middle of the ship, between
the masts, in one or two sequences, flashy halogen lamps with a power of one to 5 kW
are suspended. These strings of incandescent lamps should form a circle of light around
the boat. The intensity of the luminous flux is regulated in such a way that it attracts
rather than scares off with its light. Having chosen a fishing spot with the help
of a high-frequency sonar before sunset, the vessel drifts, throwing out a floating anchor
in the form of a parachute in order to keep strictly with its bow on the wave, while the
tiers from both sides go into the water vertically and just at the border of light and shadow.
Electric motors rhythmically raise and lower tiers with spoons, and because of the eccentricity
of the drum, the spoons twitch all the time, as if dancing, performing the ancient sailor
dance jigu, hence the name of the fishing method "jigger". The squid, attracted by the
light, floats closer to the surface and approaches the vessel. Eyesight allows him to distinguish
between the movements of the spinners. However, squids cannot see the spoons at the
border of light and shadow, and only notice something flashing and quivering, like the
reflection of moonlight on the scales of a small fish. Greed "obscures the eyes", mistaking
them for prey, they rush to the gleam and catch on the hooks built into the spoon with
their hands, tentacles, lip, sometimes even a fin. When there is an active bite, two or
three squid are attached to each spoon. Passing through the roller when hauling the longline,
squid by themselves unhook from the hooks, for this, they do not make barbs on them,
and fall into a chute with running water placed under the drums, which carries the catch into
a non-specialized tank. Sorting workers take them out from there, put them on pallets and
send them to a cooled or freezer hold. The longline can catch squid from a depth
of 180 meters, and when squid slowly rise to the surface during fishing, the depth of
the tackle is reduced. All operations are regulated from the bridge, the fishermen on
the deck only observe the work of the machines. In the area of concentration of squid at one
moment there can be many vessels of different displacement, engaged in fishing. The flotilla
is stretched out in a winding ribbon in accordance with the bends of the hydrological front,
on which squid accumulate. From space, a cluster of ships, thanks to the brightness of the
lighting used, looks like a huge multimillion-dollar metropolis. Fishing ends at sunrise.
However, do not think that squid can be caught at sea only at night. During the day, this
species of cephalopods is also very active, but it is sometimes difficult to find it in
an unfamiliar area of the sea. The best option if the vessel is heading to a catching place
that has already been tested over the years, where accumulations of different species of
squid are constantly found and this area, among other things, is also considered a fishing
area for the vessels that catch them. The catch volume at a time in the case of
using longlines or jiggers in combination with lighting can be up to 20 tons. Up to
five tons are lifted aboard by the trawl method per hour
of passage with the trawl. Sayre-type traps can bring about five tons per lift, purse
tackle - up to ten tons per trip. At the same time, all types of trawls and nets, except
for longlines and jiggers, specially designed for catching squid, are not able to keep the
catch in the gear smaller than the mesh of the net. This greatly reduces production.
Before sending the catch to the mainland, pre-processing of squid is carried out on
a fishing vessel. This largely depends on the size of the squid. Small molluscs are
washed and cut right on the ship. The cut cephalopods are thoroughly washed in water
at a temperature of 15 ... 18 degrees Celsius until the remnants of mucus, viscera, sand
are completely removed and the excess water is left to drain. Squid processed on board
are often chilled or frozen. At the port, the harvested squid are loaded
onto a truck and sent to a processing plant. Here the catch is washed and sent for cutting.
Squids are cut into carcasses or fillets. Cutting squid into a carcass is as follows.
First, they grab the head at the base and carefully tear the ligaments between the torso
and the head. Then, with a light jerk, the head is separated along with the entrails,
while the chitinous plate is removed from the squid carcasses. The head with tentacles
is cut off from the viscera, the beak and eyes are removed and sent to the sink.
When cutting, the insides must be removed carefully so as not to contaminate the meat
and crush the sepia bag, otherwise the body of the squid will turn black.
When cutting squid into fillets, a sharp knife is made to cut the mantle along the back or
abdomen, starting from its edge and ending at the base of the fin. Having made an incision,
they fold back the walls of the mantle, remove the chitinous plate and the insides along
with the head. The abdominal cavity is cleaned with the blunt side of a knife.
Then skinning is performed. This is one of the most time-consuming operations in the
primary processing of squid at enterprises, because skinning is poorly mechanized. When
removing the skin, a change in the color of the meat creates significant
difficulties. The choice of a method for removing skin from cephalopods should ensure the maximum
possible preservation of all qualities of meat. The indicators of the quality of skinning
are the loss of mass and dry matter, the duration of the process, as well as the preservation
of organoleptic characteristics characteristic of shellfish meat: color, smell, taste and
consistency.
Thus, a semi-finished product is obtained, which can either immediately go on sale on
store shelves, or go for recycling, which is more complex. For example, on a machine
designed for cutting whole squid fillets into rings or strips. It's called a slicer. Its
cutting unit is equipped with water supply nozzles, which makes it possible to keep the
supply conveyor clean throughout the entire working cycle. The machine is made of stainless
steel, meets high hygiene standards and has a high productivity.
Thanks to the conveyor supply of products and the disc block of knives, the cutting
is smooth and accurate. The thickness of the cut is made to order. The device is simple
and reliable in operation, maintenance, works quickly and efficiently, significantly saves
manual human labor. Such a machine can produce 150 kilograms of
products per hour. This is a good cost-effective solution when, with high quality, a huge amount
of unfrozen and boneless products, such as squid, need to be cut into slices or strips
in
a short time.